Petrol Injector Cleaner - To use or not?

[alanworland]

In my modern (a 20 yr old Cavalier!) I have always used a dose of Redex Injector Cleaner in with a fuel fill up, and it runs great - never had less than 40 mpg and as much as 52 on a good run (2 litre 8 valve)
I have just used my last drop of Redex that I got at a good price from an autojumble and am wondering if the good running is helped by the additive or is it just a bit of wishfull thinking on my part?
Does anybody else have any experience of using this or similar?

[Peetee]

Yes used it on several cars over the years. I fould the advantages to be far less obvious than the environmental disaster that is restarting the car after application . It's like driving the Flying Scotsman down the road . The worst occasion was when I used it on a Polo. The smokescreen was so bad I thought the piston rings had gone. It was15 minutes before I could see the road behind me and dared to set off from Clacket Services on the M25.

[bmcecosse]

You've driven Flying Scotsman ????????? I'm wildly envious!!!!!!!!
However - fired correctly the exhaust should be a nice light grey - as shown here. Black smoke is very inefficient and indicates far too rich a mixture - in other words - more air required. Either open the dampers or the firehole door!!

[frame][/frame]

As for injection cleaner - put it in the same category as most of the 'lead' additives - waste of money!

[alanworland]

No, No, No! This is not a 'bore/ring soaking dose (which I have done myself - you might have seen it!) but an application like you used to get 'shots' of Redex with your petrol, a very small amout so no smoke at all, but does it Really do any good?

[MarkyB]

I'd say it's wishful thinking and clever marketing.
Which (the consumer mag) did a test of these kind of things and wouldn't recommend any of them.

[alanworland]

Hmmmm! Think I will save my money and see how things go!

[Jefftav]

AS others have said redex makes you feel better and poorer but does very little else. Up until fairly recently I had a high mileage (247000) astra 16v GTE so a very similar engine to yours and the injectors never gave any problems but the fuel filter was changed every year and if injectors do need cleaning you will know as the car won't run very well and injector cleaning is a specialist job and quiet expensive I believe.

[alanworland]

I have always considered the Redex has contributed towards the good running, but perhaps a bit of wishfull thinking was being applied as well! Thanks!

[Tenaka]

A friend of mine's VW Polo failed its MOT recently on the emissions test - the garage recommended Redex & a good run out. He bought it, poured it in, went for an hour's drive & then had it retested - passed with a much lower reading. Can't comment on whether the Redex helped but in his case it seems to have worked.

[MarkyB]

An "Italian tune up" is generally a good idea before an emissions test.
You'd need to try it without Redex then with to see if it made any difference.

[bmcecosse]

The 'good run out' was the clue here..... Also - the garage can 'make' it pass if they want to ........

[Dean]

I always thought a good run out was a trip to the toilet.... so it would have been lost on me once the mechanic heard the toilet flush.

[bmcecosse]

Same idea really - to get rid of all the $£%& !